★★★★ Written & Directed by: #AdrianSerecut Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonStarring: #MateiChioariu, #OlgaTorok, #ElizaDobos, #DianaSerecut Short Film Review by Taryll Baker Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Based on true events, a father and a husband living in the Eastern Bloc back in the 80s…
The films of Ramin Bahrani invite us to trespass into liminal space, and his sympathies are with the outsiders threatened to be left behind by those transitions. For the majority of his career, the first-generation Iranian American has extended unfussy empathy to people struggling to make sense of the ever-changing world and their place within…
Over the past decade, there have been many documentaries that capture the heart and soul of their subjects with raw, unfiltered honesty, but perhaps none quite on the level of Bing Liu’s Minding the Gap. The film, released in 2018, documents the lives of Bing Liu (the film’s director) and two close friends named Keire Johnson…
Tucked away on the second floor of an antiques store in a small New Jersey town lies a shockingly large collection of antique vampire-killing sets. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonCovering the walls are the standard tools of the vampire hunter: the stake, the crucifix, the holy water bottle. But the stakes are far…
As the resident Conservative Who Doesn’t Care About Left-Wing Overtones In Movies And Doesn’t Think You Should, Either, I’m here to say “Wonder Woman 1984” is, hold your breath… just fine. Exhale. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonIf you go into the movie, as I did, with modest expectations and not looking…
The riverside façade of Jelgava Palace is magnificent. Designed by the court architect of Imperial Russia, Bartolomeo Rastrelli of Winter Palace fame, its baroque exterior is graced by ornate windows and striking cast-iron medallions. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWith 669 rooms, 674 windows, 615 doors, and 25 chimneys, the palace served as…
Colin Mochrie scripted? The icon of improv comedy headlines Michael Stasko‘s latest quirk comedy, Boys vs. Girls. Set in the blistering heat of summer camp drama, the film takes place at Camp Kindlewood, an old school retreat a bit past its prime and, for the first time in its history, forced to be co-ed. Chaos ensues as…
Pedestrians in New Orleans’ Tremé neighborhood might notice a collection of beautiful, patchwork wooden doors. Known as “wooden quilts,” the colorful interwoven entryways showcase one artist’s incredible craftsmanship and history. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonJean-Marcel St. Jacques is a self-taught folk artist with deep roots in the Louisiana soil. A 12th-generation…
The wonderfully painted rock juts up out of the ground along a wooded road in Marlborough, Connecticut. Not only are the roadside wonder’s origins a mystery, but its form remains a question as well: Most call it Snake Rock, but some refer to it as Turtle Rock, insisting that the small clumps of stones on…
Crossing the Streams is our monthly look at all the offerings hitting the big streaming services each month, and this time we’re checking out the new Amazon Prime arrivals for January 2021. This month’s titles include a fantastic directorial debut from Regina King, some classic Westerns, genre films you might have missed in 2020, and…
In the Japanese city of Wakayama, a stone’s throw away from ancient castle ruins and the Kumano river, a 74-year-old restaurant called Toho Chaya specializes in an ancient form of sushi. To make narezushi, the restaurant packs rice inside salty fish carcasses and ages them for months. Toho Chaya has always done things the old-fashioned…
2020 has finally ended and we here at Film Inquiry want to look back at one of the few bright spots it had to offer: the amazing movies. We asked our writers to give their individual top ten films of the year, and since they have varying tastes and are flung across the world, their…
The afternoon is overcast, the ocean churning, between Port Fairy and Warrnambool, on the Shipwreck Coast of Victoria, Australia. A man and woman carry shovels and a metal detector along the beach. I ask if they are looking for Warrnambool’s notorious wreck, the Mahogany Ship. Without hesitation, the man answers: “I’ve been searching for the…
Cindy Jansen‘s directorial debut, Chasing The Rain, feels like the perfect film for 2020, one which attempts to see, step by step, which straw will break the camel’s back. The camel, in this case, is Eric, played coarsely by Matt Lanter (Star Wars: The Clone Wars). A young man whose passion for photography is only matched by his…
When the marine biologist Michael ßwat descended to the seabed of the Bay of Gelting on the western edge of the Baltic Sea, he noticed a contraption tangled up in the fishing line the crew had headed down to collect. The device, which at first seemed like an old typewriter sitting under at least 30…
I used to be obsessed with miniature ships in bottles. For hours I would stare into them, fascinated by the patience and meticulousness constructing such a thing required and even more fascinated by the sheer detail put into the endeavor; marring the surfaces and sails of the small tableau were scars, scratches, holes, contours, and…
★★★★ Directed by: Ricardo Perez-Selsky Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: Ricardo Perez-Selsky Starring: Alexis Johnson, Amber Lee Ettinger, Luis Cubas Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Film Review by: Jason Knight In Mexico, a desperate woman goes to extreme lengths in an attempt to…
This unique Greek Orthodox church is located on a plain where the ancient city of Mantineia was formerly situated. Construction on the church began in 1969 and it was inaugurated in 1978. No cement was used during the building process, only natural materials such as stone, marble, wood, and tiles. Read moreA Guide to The…
“I rather think she would’ve liked it as well.” Sky Cinema in the UK has debuted the first look teaser trailer for a film titled To Olivia, described as “the true story of renowned writer Roald Dahl and actress Patrica Neal.” Set in the 1960s, the film follows Dahl & Neal around their secluded home…
In the years before roads and automobiles made commuting around Flathead Lake easier, steamships ruled the waves. The Helena stood out among the fleet of ferries in that it allowed the communities around the lake to flourish. Constructed in 1915 by James Kehoe, the Helena was cobbled together from salvaged parts including its engine, which was…
The hunt is on for a serial killer in The Little Things, the latest from writer/director John Lee Hancock. Deke and Jimmy aren’t the most natural partners. They’re from different agencies, for one thing, and Jimmy has been playing the game to move quickly up the career ladder while Deke has remained a deputy. That doesn’t…